Hordes Domination: Legion Review
WARLOCKS: Kallus was released more than a month ago. His play style is somewhat of a hybrid between pThagrosh and Rhyas; supporting more infantry than is usual for the faction and also giving a little durability. I ran Epic Vayl against Relasine in a friendly game during Feast of Blades, and the assessment he gave at the end of it was “she feels like a Cryx caster”.
Epic Vayl is a spell slinger to the Nth degree. She plays much further back that her original version, until the time comes to strike, at which point she’ll move up, Feat, hit you with a couple of boosted Obliteration’s through her pseudo Arc Nodes, and then the rest of the army can apply the finishing touches. Her Upkeep Spells support winged Warbeasts, particularly a Seraph and/or Angelius- giving them full use of their wings and speed to move away from danger or into a good position.
The Feat allows Vayl to cast all of her spells for free during her activation, which sounds more powerful than it really is. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but with 4 upkeep’s and only one offensive damage spell in her list, it’s best used to either remove troublesome enemy upkeep’s via Purification before re-applying your own friendly buffs during a crucial turn, or allowing you to strike with up to 3 unboosted Obliterations (one from Feat, two from her own Fury), or two boosted ones, preceded by one boosted Icy Grip to lower the enemy ‘casters defense first. She feels a lot different than her early iteration, but if you like supporting spell slingers, you’ll really like Epic Vayl.
WARBEASTS: The Faction only received two new Warbeasts in this book. The Naga is a new light with SPD 6, Prowl, and a RNG 10 POW 12 gun. What makes the guy interesting is Critical Shadow Bind on it’s melee attacks, Magical Weapon and Critical Poison on the gun, and an Animus that grants Magical Weapon and Blessed to a target friendly faction model. The Animus is awesome, and sorely needed in a faction with few magical weapons. The critical effects on the Naga’s own weapons are nice, but in being only critical effects and not universally active, the overall potential of this guy is limited. It’s a decent Warbeast, but until I can get some playtime with him, I have a hard time seeing this guy as anything more than a situational model.
Proteus, the new character heavy Warbeast, is much more useful. Think of him as a Reaper Helljack for Legion, with giant tentacles that shoot out to grab opposing models and pull them in so he can tear them up in melee. The melee weapons are a little on the weak side, but there are enough Warlocks in faction who can boost that (Absylonia, Kallus, both Thagrosh’s, pVayl). What really makes him nice is a 5 Fury limit, and his Herding rule, which allows him to act as an improved Shepherd and extend his Warlocks’ control area. Proteus is on the pricier side, but I think he’ll see quite a bit of play.
UNITS & SOLOS: The Succubus and the Legionnaire Unit Attachment are two of the gem’s in this book. The Succubus is Legions’ version of Aptimus Marketh. She can upkeep a spell for free and can cast an Animus for free every turn as a star action. Both abilities are great with the numerous 5 and 6 Fury casters in the faction. Lylyth, Rhyas, and Kallus players can all find a use for her.
Captain Farilor and his Standard is the character unit attachment for Legionnaires. These guys are going to be the new “must-have’s” for the faction. Giving Legionnaires Set Defense and a once-per-game +4 ARM via Iron Zeal are mean. The magical defense granted by the standard and Farilor’s own combat prowess is just icing on the cake. I’m already waiting for the day I can run them with Epic Thagrosh and force my opponent to deal with a wall of ARM 22 infantry.
BATTLE ENGINE: What can I say? I think Privateer got the internal balance nailed with the Hordes Battle Engines. The Throne of Everblight B.E. is the most overtly “melee” of the bunch, with three large tentacles that have 4″ reach on the charge, and a Sorceress on top who can use the Battle Wizard rule to follow up with an 8″ POW 12 spray or a 10″ POW 10 damage spell that also affects the nearest d3 enemies to the target. The model won’t take on a single target in the same way a Scythean does, due to the fact that it can’t purchase additional attacks, but it will be darned good at getting into the meat of an enemy force and tying things up. Compare this model to other anti-infantry options as opposed to anti-heavy, and I think you’ll see how it fits in. The only thing that worries me is fitting it into my carrying case!
That’s Legions’ haul in Domination. Look out for tactics and painting articles on many of these as they’re released.
